Corn-shocker.



No. 7|4,999. Patentod m. 2, 1902'.

B. R. BENJAMIN & J. W. PRIDMORE. CORN SHOGKER.

(Applicl-tion filed In. 81, 1902.)

(lo lode l.) a Shuts-shut a m: NORRIS mas so. morguruq. msumavon. u c,

No. 7:4,999. Patented Dec. 2", I902.

B. R. BENJAMIN & J. w. mnmona.

coma suoukzn.

(Application filed Mar. 31, 1902.)

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Shnei 2.

@Hllluw g l n g h C 1 5 "I, e o o o u o 5 70 r a? E E g on 0L 1s c r E g c EQIIII 7v 2 r z g g 0 l 0 o E a fizz/6711513 No. 7I4 999. Patented Dac. 2, I902. B. R. BENJAMIN &. J. W. PRIDMORE.

CORN SHUCKER.

(Application fllod Mar. 31, 1909.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 (No Model.)-

m: mums PEYKRS cc. morouma. WASMlNdTDN, n c.

UITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BERT R. BENJAMIN AND JOHN W. PRIDMORE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

ASSIGNORS TO INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY, OF CHI- OAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CORN-SHOCKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 714,999, dated December 2, 1902.

Application filed March 31, 1902. Serial No. 100,777. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we,I3ERT R. BENJAMIN and JOHN W. PRIDMORE, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Corn- Shockers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The invention has to do with that class of shockers where the corn is received upon a table having an upstandingcentral post which is provided with outreaching arms that form pockets in which the corn accumulates. The table revolves with a regular motion, presenting the pockets successively in position to receive the stalks from the cutting and forwarding devices, and when all the pockets are full, or at least when enough corn has collected in them to form a shock, the accumulated stalks are bound into a shock with the post and arms inclosed within it. The bound shock is then lifted from the table, carrying the post with it, and is deposited on the ground standing on end, after which the post is withdrawn endwise from the top of the shock, so as to be again set up on the table ready to have another shock formed around it.

The invention relates entirely to the formation of the shock around the post and its outreaching arms and has nothing to do with the manner of binding the shock or discharging it after it has been bound.

As heretofore constructed these machines have usually had the posts connected to the tables, so as to be rotated by the tables themselves or by the same means which rotated the tables. This necessitated an equal rate of rotation for the table and post, which though separable have heretofore always rotated as one device.

In forming the shock upon the table, especially when the corn is delivered into the pockets formed by the arms of the post by automatic forwarding devices, the stalks fall backward in a more or less inclined position and rest against the arms in a position to give the shock a crooked or twisted formation. This tendency of the falling corn is especially noticeable at the commencement of the formation of the shock when the pockets have very little in them and only a small part of the table-surface is occupied. It is with particular reference to overcoming this difliculty that the present invention has been devised, and the characteristic features of the invention are that the shock-forming post and its arms are not rotated by the table, but by their own driving mechanism, and also that the driving-gear for this post and the table is such that the latter rotates in the early part of the formation of the shock, so as to cause the butts of the stalks to move a little faster than the tops, and thus to straighten up the stalks, after which the arms and the table rotate at the same speed and the upright position of the shock is preserved. The faster movement of the table during the early stages of the shock formation serves to correct the twisted or crooked formation of the inner part of the shock, and this effect is materially assisted by the action of the upstanding flanges on the table, which not only carry the butts around faster, as above described, but Work them toward the center of the shock.

Theinvention will be fully understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure l is a plan view of themachine with the table in position. Fig. 2 is asimilar view, the table being removed to better show the post-driving mechanism. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3 3, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4 4, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a sectionof Fig. 4 on the line 5 5. Fig. 6 is a section of the same figure on the line 6 6, and Fig. 7 is a section through the shaft whose pinion gears into the rack on the under side of the table. (See line 7, Fig. 1.)

The frame of the machine forms no part of the invention and may be of any appropriate construction. As herein shown, it is formed mainly of angle-iron and consists of fore-andaft outer side bars a a and similar intermediate bars I) b b. The side bars are united 5 machine, and the grain side is carried by a plain supporting-wheel f, each wheel being preferably adjustable, so as to set the frame at diiferent heights from the ground.

The table 9 is circular, as usual, and is located a little to one side of the center of the frame. It is supported at its periphery on rollers h h h h, and at the center it rests upon a small turn-table 2', upward from which projects the postj through a central hole in the table. turn-table and has a bearing in a bracket 70, which is firmly bolted to the cross-bars (1 Cl, the object of this extension being to give the post a strong steady hearing. The turn-table is supported at its center by the bracket I k and rests at its outer edge on rollers Z Z,

similar to the rollers which support the edge of the table g. The upper end of the post j is squared, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and the shock-forming post 'm, which maybe tubular, if desired, and carries the arms for supporting the stalks, and has its lower end squared corresponding to the upper end of the post j, over which it fits. The shock-forming post thus has no operative connection with the table which supports the shock.

All the moving parts are driven from a lineshaft 'n, that extends across the front part of the machine and is joutrnaled in boxes secured to the intermediate cross-bars b b b, and this shaft is driven by a chain belt 0 from a large driving-sprocket 19 on the tractionwheel. The shock-supporting table is rotated from this line-shaft through the intermediacy of a short shaft g, which is journaled in a bracket 1' and occupies a position that is radial to the table. It is geared to a bevelgear 8 on the line-shaft by a smaller bevelpinion t on its outer end, and it has a spurpinion u on its inner end which meshes with an annular row of gear-teeth 41 around the edge of the table on the under side.

.The turn-table, which carries the postj and also carries and rotates the shock-forming post m and its arms, (not shown,) is also driven from the line-shaft through the intermediacy of a separate counter-shaft a, which is geared to the turn-table by a peculiar arrangement, which permits it to be rotated by the shaft or to rotate independently of it. The shaft 0. has a large bevel-gear b on its front end, which is driven by a smaller bevelpinion c on the lineshaft. The countershaft is journaled in a bracket-bearing d, which is bolted to one of the cross-bars d, and it is connected to a similar shaft 6, which is .journaled in a bracket f and is positioned in line with the counter-shaft. The connection between these two shafts (or, as they maybe considered, parts of one shaft) is made by means of a pawl-carrying disk 9, that is secured to the part e and has its pawls h inclosed in the hollow rim of a ratchet-disk i, fixed on the part a and having teeth or projections Z facing inward on its rim. On the The post j also projects below the.

rear end of the'part 2 there is a spur-pinion 'm, which gears with a toothed rack 92/ around the edge of the turn-table. It results from this construction that the turn-table 'i may be rotated by the counter-shaft a, through the agency of the teeth Z of the disk 2" engaging the pawls h of the disk g, or that the turntable may rotate at a faster rate than the. shaft a, the pawls of the disk g at such time simply slipping past the ratchet-teeth on the disk 7;. The shafts a 6 may therefore be considered as a single two-part shaft having an intermediate clutch connection 9 h 11' Z and carrying on its front end a driven pinion b, geared to the line-shaft, and on its rear end a driving-pinion m, geared to the rack on the turn-table.

As heretofore constructed the surface of the shoclosupporting table has been provided with upstanding ribs or flanges that were radial to the post and the center of the shock.

This arrangement has a tendency to sweep the stalks outward from the center as the table revolves, and the present invention provides for correcting this dilficulty by arranging the flanges in the form shown in Fig. 1, where it will be seen that a central flange 0 is raised around the center of the table, sufficiently removed from the post to give the base of the shock a slightly spreading or open formation, and that other flanges 10 reach out tangentially to this the central part of the table and extend to the outer edge thereof. Four of these flanges are shown in the drawings, but obviously any desired number may be employed.

When the table is receiving the stalks from the forwarding devices, it moves around in the direction of the arrows in Fig. 1, and the tangential arrangement of the advancing flange causes it to sweep the stalks toward the central post instead of tending to push them outwardly, as heretofore. This arrangement also enables the flanges to pass through the butts of the incoming stalks more nearly endwise than if radially arranged, as heretofore.

The construction being as thus described, the operation of the machine is as follows: The table receives the corn from the cutting and forwarding devices as just above described and is slowly rotated by the line-shaft n through the intermediacy of the radial counter-shaft r, the relation of the intermediate gearing s and if being such as to drive the counter-shaft at a considerably higher speed than the line-shaft. Concurrently with the rotation of the table the line-shaft also r0- tates the shock-formin g post m by the means of the two-part shafts a e, the latter being geared to the shaft by the pinions c and b, which are so proportioned that the countershaft rotates more slowly than the line-shaft. The two counter-shafts are also driven at such relative speed that normally the table which supports the shock rotates at a slightly-faster rate than the post against the arms of which the upper part of the stalks rest. It will be understood from this description that the faster movement of the table causes the tops of the stalks to press against the arms with a pressure greater than their mere Weight, this increased pressure being due to the straightening up of the stalks by the table, and as the accumulation of the stalks continues this pressure of their tops against the arms of the post increases, until finally it is sufficient to rotate the post without the aid of the countershafts a 9. At this point in the operation the peculiar function of the clutch connection between the two parts of this shaft comes into play, and the disk g and its pawls h are revolved by the post faster than the toothed disk i, the post being from this time on rotated by the table through the intermediacy of the stalks instead of being driven as at first by the part a of the counter-shafts a, 6 through its clutch connection with the part 6'.

Of course it is not essential that the particular arrangement herein shown should be employed for rotating the post. The invention is believed to be the first to contemplate the described differential rotation of the post and the table, and therefore comprehends Within its scope any sort of driving mechanism that will rotate the post at a given speed and at the same time allow the post to be independently rotated by some extraneous force at a faster speed.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patcut, is

1. A corn harvester, having a rotating shock-supporting table, and a shock-forming post rotated independently of the table.

2. A corn-harvester, having a shock-supporting table rotated at one speed,and a shockforming post rotated at a dilferent speed.

3. A corn-harvester, having a shock-forming table rotated at one speed, and a shockforming post rotatable at times at the same speed as the table and at other times at a different speed.

4. A corn harvester, having a rotating shock-forming table, and a shock-forming post rotatable by the table at one speed and independently of said table at another speed.

5. In a corn-harvester, the combination of a shock-supporting table, gearing for rotating the table, a shock-forming post, and gearing for rotating the post and permitting it to be independently rotated.

6. In a corn-harvester, the combination of a shock-supporting table, gearing for rotating the table, a shock-forming post, and gearing for rotating the post, said gearing including a clutch permitting the post to be rotated independently of the gearing.

7. In a corn-harvester, the combination of the line-shaft n, the table g, the post m, and independent counter-shafts for rotating the table and post independently, both said counter-shafts being geared to the line-shaft.

8. In a corn-harvester, the combination of the line-shaft n, the table g, the counter-shaft r for rotating the table, the post an, and the counter-shaft a, e, the latter being geared to the line-shaft, and having a clutch between its parts.

9. A corn harvester, having a rotating shook-supporting table provided with upstanding flanges arranged tangentially to the central part of the table and extending toward the outer edge thereof.

10. A corn -harvester, having a rotating shock-supporting table, and a central shockforming post, the table being provided with a flange 0 surrounding the post, and flanges arranged tangentially to the central part of the table and extending outward from the flange 0' toward the edge of thetable.

11. A corn-shocker, having a shock-forming post, and gearing for rotating the post at a given speed, said gearing permitting the post to be independently rotated at a faster speed.

In testimony whereof we have affixed our signatures to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

BERT R. BENJAMIN. JOHN XV. PRIDMORE. Witnesses:

CHAS. N. CHAMBERS, JOHN A. CHAPMAN. 

